Rooted in family. Rooted in friendship. Rooted in community. Rooted in the fullness of God.

Love is a Funny Thing

I’ve never had a move I was ready for. Maybe when I went off to college. But who knows if you are really ever ‘ready’ to leave the nest. After all, I was leaving behind every person who had loved and nurtured me since birth. I know I was excited to go. But I was certainly nervous when my parents drove away as I stood on the sidewalk in front of that SMU freshman dorm. With all of my moves, I’ve been a little excited about what is to come, but scared too.

I spent my first 18 years in Columbus, GA. And I planned to spend the rest of life there post-college. Since the day I left home in 1997, I have lived in five states. Six if you count our summer in NYC. I have yet to have a move that wasn’t a blessing. Every city in which we have landed has been wonderful in its own unique ways. And every city has people who think they live in the best place in the world. And they all do.

God gives us gifts in unexpected forms. Often, we don’t ask for them. I didn’t exactly ask God for any of our moves. As a matter of fact, I prayed to not have to move the last two times. But hindsight is 20/20, and I am thankful for each opportunity I have had to explore new places, gain new perspectives, put down roots in new communities, and love new people. The cities, the local cuisine, the churches, the mountains, the beaches – they all wooed me and gave me new appreciations. But, it’s the people who stole my heart along the way. And lots of them still have a piece of it.

And my closest loves – they’ve been by my side the whole time. My dearest husband, my best friend…each and every new place is home because he is by my side. Our four littles light up our world wherever we are (and simultaneously make me crazy no matter where we are). Our immediate families, even from thousands of miles away, have stood right by us, supporting us with unconditional love.

And my God, my ever-consistent and loving God. He pursues me in all places. For all time. Ryan and I have landed in some pretty amazing places – New England, Colorado, Santa Fe, Southern California. These locales have made us happy. But, as I heard in a sermon a couple of weeks ago, our story is not one of happiness. Our story is one of God’s faithfulness. Of God’s relentless love. The sermon encouraged us to define who we are, not by our circumstances, but by His love. And one of the many ways I feel God’s love is when it shines through people.

The love of all of the friends we have made in each city over the last 13+ years fuels me. Each time we are about to move, I think that I have plenty of friends and don’t have the capacity to love any more friends like the ones I have – I just want to put a cap on it and enjoy my peeps. But it’s no different than having the capacity to love one more child when you think you can’t possibly love another like the last. And God has put some really amazing people in my life. He might just even decide to do it again here in SoCal. I’m getting open to that idea. I might take the cap off.

Because you know what…love is a funny thing. If you’ve read my blog much, you may know that music inspires and energizes me. For the first time ever yesterday, I heard Jason Mraz’s song, Love Someone. It’s just awesome.

Love is a funny thing Whenever I give it, it comes back to me And it’s wonderful to be Giving with my whole heart As my heart receives Your love…

“When we have the joy of experiencing of deep connecting to others – and ultimately to God – we begin to wonder why life can’t be more of that.”

God’s deep desire to connect with me brings me a baseline of joy and love to work from. I guess God is just blessing me with opportunity to connect with lots of ‘others’ through our moves. But of course, you don’t have to move to connect deeply with people. There are opportunities to ‘love someone’ at every turn. Take a moment to let Jason Mraz inpire you and give some love away today. Maybe to your spouse or best friend. Maybe to a friend you haven’t connected with in a while. Just love someone. You may find that it comes back. And you probably will wish that life could be more of that.

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12 thoughts on “Love is a Funny Thing”

Oh Lauren, you nailed it! You have always espoused this philosophy. Even when you didn’t articulate it so knowingly, you LIVED it. You make the world (and my world) a better place – and I’m honored to love you and to be loved by you.

…ahhhh….you words made my heart…pound!
In that as we all…were created for ‘love’….to give …is to receive……Himself.
Thank you for your sharing……praying for your each day..to shine brighter then the next….
Hugs in Him,
Frannie

Such wonderful thoughts, such beautiful writing – you are lovely (and so deeply loved) through and through. We love because He first loved us – and you said just that in a most heart-full way! Such a joy to hear your voice today – in two distinct ways!

Lauren, I love hearing from your heart. I know this was a hard move and look how you have turned it into such a precious growing experience. God is faithful and His love just expounds more than we can imagine and you are a wonderful witness of that as He shines so brightly through you. Love who you are and that my family gets to benefit.

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Mom to 4. Wife of my best friend. Rooted wherever I am.
I am doing something I thought I would never do. I am creating a blog. I am not creating a blog because I think you will love my writing. I am creating a blog because I love to write. Quite often, my heart overflows in words, and until I get them down, it’s hard to focus on anything else. I just discovered in 2013 that I like to write. I think I came out of a 7+ year fog of pregnancies, newborns, and infants. I love to share my heart, and I’ve learned that I do it much better through writing than verbal communication. You should know that I am nervous. I do better one-on-one with people. So, sharing, en masse, is daunting.
I have titled my blog ‘Rooted’. Because I want everything I do, say, or write (whether or not it has anything to do with my faith) to be driven by the fact that I am rooted in love, specifically the love of Christ. My blog’s title refers to one of my favorite verses – “… And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19) And on the days when I can even begin to grasp how grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, I know a peace and a joy that truly does surpass all knowledge and fills me to the measure. And that same deep peace and joy is my prayer for my friends. My family. My readers. Please join me if you like. I’m certainly curious where this new adventure will take us.